Is Pewsey about to lose its popular Knitty Gritty shop?

Written by Tony Millett on 11 August 2012.

Pauline Hawkins outside Knitty GrittyPauline Hawkins has been running Knitty Gritty in the centre of Pewsey for over thirteen years. Now she wants to retire and do something different and has put the shop up either for sale as an established business or to let as premises for another kind of shop.

She sells women’s clothes, gifts and cards, but it’s the clothes that customers say they will really miss. As one very satisfied and frequent customer told Marlborough News Online: “Pauline doesn't just stock smart-casual clothes for us women, she also stocks all the basic, everyday essentials you can't buy in Marlborough or anywhere else around here.”

Knitty Gritty is the area’s main stockist for Sloggi, Triumph and Naturana underwear and swimwear. Which leaves plenty of space for Aristoc, Viz-a-viz, Pretty Polly – and for that special gift – Bulaggi designer handbags.

With one of the best addresses in the village – 1 Market Place – Knitty Gritty has been developed by Pauline into a thriving business. Now she thinks “Someone with new enthusiasms and new ideas could take the business to a higher level.”

One of the reasons for her success is that she stocks a variety of goods: “If you specialise you’re not going to sell everyday.” In the short time we were in the shop to talk to Pauline, she had four customers checking out her stock.

Pauline was born and brought up in Pewsey, but moved to Pembrokeshire where her husband became a well-known and successful builder renovating farmhouses and building new homes. After eighteen years in Wales, the family moved back to Pewsey.

So far she’s had a couple of people interested in taking over the shop. But she says despite being ‘of a retirement age’, she’s not in any great hurry to retire.

Anyone interested in taking over Knitty Gritty can ‘phone the shop on 01672 564313.